Managing water on the surface

Where ever possible runoff from developments should be managed on the surface. This enables their performance to be more easily inspected and managed with pollution incidents and potential flood risk being visible. Managing water on the surface can also greatly improve the quality of places by integrating water features into the development; this can either be through soft or hard landscaping.

Managing water on the surface also encourages natural breakdown of some pollutants and can allow easier adaptation to climate change and other developmental pressures.

SuDS should be seen in the context of other surface water management approaches, including flood routing, the management of extreme events where the rainfall exceeds the capacity of the drainage system (drainage exceedance) and the opening of urban channelised watercourses (culverts).